Syz the moment

Kuwait’s capital markets regulator banned bitcoin mining this week as they reiterated prohibitions on crypto activities. The prohibition came down via an official circular released on Tuesday. Kuwaiti authorities had previously only expressed disapproval of crypto payments. Kuwait is now reinforcing restrictions on institutions and other payment services touching crypto, but so far it seems to have stopped short of outright criminalizing interactions with crypto for individuals. Still, regulators stated the use of crypto as a form of payment is strictly prohibited, and residents are advised against engaging in any transactions involving cryptocurrency. But until now, the regulatory status of crypto mining had been ambiguous. The recent circular changes that.

Source: Blockworks

Société Générale subsidiary becomes the first fully-licensed crypto provider in France. Forge will have a right to custody digital assets, to purchase and sell them for legal tender, and to trade them against each other. Forge, a subsidiary of Société Générale — the third-largest bank in France — became the first company to obtain the highest access license for providing crypto services in the country — a prerequisite for numerous service activities (PSAN). The provider will have a right to custody digital assets, to purchase and sell them for legal tender, and trade them against each other. So far, around 90 companies have already been on the AMF list of licensed providers. For example, the subsidiary of Société Générale’s powerful competitor, Crédit Agricole, got approval for digital custody in June 2023. However, Forge became the first to receive the highest approval for numerous services from the regulator. As the French radio station Business FM stated, such stringent requirements for this level of approval give an obvious advantage to large traditional banks over smaller crypto companies. Source: cointelegraph

Venture capital firm Coinfund is digging in with new crypto start-ups with a fresh fundraising round at a time when many investors are pulling back from the industry. Coinfund, a New York-based VC firm that boasts 105 companies in its portfolio, announced today that it pulled in $152 million in its latest round. "In the post-FTX era, we've seen a lot of developers resolve to finish the roadmap to a decentralized application developer stack," Felix told Decrypt. "Now you're seeing a big, renewed focus on scalability, interoperability, and user experience to really bring that roadmap to decentralization to completion." Source: Decrypt

Source: Oliver L. Velez

Crypto exchange Binance enabled deposits and withdrawals on Bitcoin’s Lightning Network on Monday. Lightning is now alongside other options including Bitcoin mainnet, BNB Smart Chain and Ethereum. Lightning serves as a layer-2 scaling solution for Bitcoin. The network is intended to speed up transactions and reduce fees, reminiscent of Ethereum layer-2 protocols like Optimism.

Source: Blocworks

see below chart by Glassnode with orange line being the BTC balance on Exchanges. With 70% of all BTC having NOT moved in a year, despite the longest bear market on record and nearly 60% having not moved in 2 years or more, a supply crisis could be in the making (at the time the largest asset managers in the world are making progress towards the launch of Bitcoin spot etfs...). What did Economics 101 teach us about rising demand and lack of supply??? Source: Oliver L. Velez, Glassnode

SEC Formally Accepts BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF Application for Review. The procedural move suggests that the federal agency will give the closely-watched application a serious look. BlackRock's application to offer a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) has been added to the official docket of the Securities and Exchange Commission as part of its proposed rule change process. The move, recorded late Thursday, advances the most closely-watched Bitcoin-related proposal to the SEC to date. Source: Decrypt

Source: Benjamin Cowen